Having had underdrive pullies on other cars personally and knowing that they had a positive effect on RX-7's (1st gen), I say they DO make a difference, BUT not so much on this car. Mazda has done a much better job of keeping things light than people give them credit for. 2lbs stock pullies is light! Every part is relatively light for what it is. The stock pullies are much lighter than on most cars. The stock pullies on my Eclipse weighed 8lbs! So is the driveshaft, flywheel, etc. I do have a lightweight flywheel and I like it, but any of these lightening parts is only going to make so much of a difference.

No offense to anyone, but the seat of the pants test usually is inaccurate and has a lot to do with self justification. If there was really that much power to be had just from swapping pullies, I am sure Mazda would have considered it.

Saying that, I still might get them. I like the overall effect of lightening as much as possible even more than it already is. Nothing wrong with that! It all adds up slowly and surely. That and I like mods.

 

Oh yeah. Great write up! We need more of this stuff.

 

Hmmm, so how badly will my subs be affected if I get this under drive pulley? I have two 10" Alpine type R's, and a v-12 amp, and I have a capacitor. I want to get the pulley but I don't want to have my system get all messed up.

 

I have SR motorsports pulleys and I can vouch that you will NOT pick up 12 horsepower by installing them. Regardless, when you are starting out well below 200 horsepower, every couple of ponies you can get here and there help.

 

How hard was it to get everything back on?
(Excuse the stupid question.)

 

I have the agency pulley--no dyno--dont like those dang things anyway unless it is for a specific tuning or diagnostic reasons-- have and old butt that has felt many a change in the hundreds of cars it has rode in-- and all i can say --on my car this pulley made a differance--just like whetson says- after 3.5-4k you can feel it-- but not as much up top. I have other mods and this pulley was much more "feelable" than say the Revi intake with cai.
and as far as all the high flow cats out there-- reputable expert friend has tried all that i know off(he has the resources to do this) and he has lost power with them---thats right he has LOST power with th HF cats----PER DYNO. I dont doubt other peoples results with these cats --it just goes to show ya that these cars repond differantly. (until we all get a stand alone)
To me the Agency is a good buy.
olddragger

 

not hard at all. Just make sure you have the pulley lined up to where you can get all 4 bolts in before you apply the thread lock and tighten down. If you can only get 3 bolts in, just rotate the pulley 180 degrees and they should all go in.

 

Depending on the setup and how good your ground is, anything from no effect to lights dimming when at idle. As mentioned earler, while driving there should be no effects.

 

UNHOOK NEGATIVE BATTERY CABLE!
-Loosing fingers is not good for anyone. We don't need freak accidents.

Unhook MAF.

Looking at the engine bay:


Remove the stock airbox or the part of your aftermarket intake between the box and the rubber accordion connector(circled in RED). Rubber accordion need not be removed. The crank pulley position looking down on the engine bay is circled in GREEN.


Loosening Belts:

First, tease the belts a little bit to get a feel for how much slack they have on them in stock condition.

To loosen the alternator belt, you must release the alternator belt lock nut, circled in RED. Do not remove, only loosen. Once loosened, you can untense the alternator belt by unscrewing the bolt circled in BLUE. Unscrew a bit and push down on the alternator occasionally. Once you have enough clearance, remove the belt.



To loosen the A/C belt same procedure follows. Loosen, but do not remove the 17mm nut circled in RED. Once loosened, you may slack the belt by unscrewing the bolt cicled in BLUE. My 17mm was pretty tight, so I used a breaker bar for it.



I'm pretty sure the bolts circled except for the 17mm one are all 12mm.

From there place the car in fourth gear, apply parking brake.

In this picture above the AP underdrive is already installed but that is where the crank pulley is that you have to remove. I used a 12" extender and swivel to get down to the 4 - 10mm bolts holding the crank pulley on. Remove all four being careful not to drop any. Installation with supplied HEX bolts is tricky and you need a HEX adapter or some other HEX wrench. Edit: The HEX bolt size is 5mm. I used a small L HEX wrench I had in my toolbox that fit and a very small piece of pipe as a cheater bar. Manual specs 10-12 ft/lbs for the smaller bolts.

THE PULLEY ONLY GOES ON ONE WAY THANKS TO TWO KEY HOLES. IF IT DOES NOT SIT FLUSH YOU MUST ROTATE IT 90 DEGREES AND INSTALL THAT WAY.....

Once installed, squeeze the belts back on, noting that the pulley ridges match in number with the number of ridges on the belts. Tighten the belts by the oppostite method noted above to stock tightness. Be sure to retighten the belt lock nuts! I gave the alternator one 17ft-lbs. and the AC one 38 ft-lbs. These are manual spec numbers.

Replace Airbox/intake tube removed eariler. Reconnect MAF.

Stand clear, and have someone else start your engine. If all goes well, there should be no squeaking and the belts will look like they are running with no major vibrations or unbalancedness on the pulleys. Have you friend rev it up. Watch for slippage or squeaking. If this occurs, tighten belts. Otherwise, your good to go!

After 100 miles or so recheck the belts for tightness and to make sure the crank pulley bolts are still there.

 

nice write up. but still idunno if i would get one tho. jus me tho

 

Hmmm, so would it not be "as" affected if I got a more powerful battery. Like an Optima yellow top?

 

It would definetly help.

 

Sweet. I guess I'll get me one of these then.
Thanks for your help staticlag.

 

Sorry for the delay, been away from a computer for a while.

I have Racing beat REVi+duct, REV8, the Rotary Performance Supercat, grounding kit and a few other things in my sig.

 

I don't know if that would change anything actually... The car runs off the alternator when you are running, and it charges the battery. The only time you really use it (I think) is when you start it. Maybe getting a beefier alt will help...

 

Not to be mean- but am I the only one wondering why somebody with subs and an amp are doing a mod that will net them at best marginal gains and shave off a couple pounds??

You know, I have a great mod that will shave tenths of a second off your 0-60, improve gas milage and handling, and costs $0... Take out the hundred pounds of audio stuff in your trunk! Seriously- I think some folks should figure out what they want before they start throwing money away on mods that won't be noticed.

 

my thoughts... show and go? system for everday lisening and pulleys and such to make up for the added weight.. (not that pulleys would relaly make up for anyhting) my .02$

 

hmm, my question, is i hear they drop rpms quicker and are easier to "stall" the car when getting them, but the mazdaspeed flywheel greatly raises Rpms, and makes it almsot impossible to stall(from what ive read) so.. fi you had both.. would it be pretty much like your at stock again? or is the flywheel more "powerfull" and outweighs the the quick rpm drop by the pully?

 

I am not sure about the mazdaspeed flywheel but the ACT Prolite is a lightweight flywheel and it drops the rpms much quicker than a lightweight pulley ever will. So the two should add together and make the rpms drop even quicker rather than work against each other. I think the only way you will stall is if you are a shitty driver when it comes to operating a clutch. Besides the rpms do not drop all that much because of the pulley.

One thing to note now that it is Summer and I have the pulley, my *** is baking in my car with the ac on full blast while sitting in traffic until I get up to over 4700rpms. I bought this car in December and installed the pulley in April so I am not sure how well the ac originally was but my 04 auto 8 wasn't this bad.

 

hm.. my ac never worked great. mainly becuase the ac hose is still unwrapped right above my engine, i dont use the ac enough to do that simple mod of wrapping it up.. i might soon though.. here in woodstock ontario, our weather has been hotter then californias..

 

I live in Houston and tried wrapping the pipe, it didn't work. The fundamental problem--at least on my car--is that the compressor doesn't stay on, period. The dealer can deny it all they want, but I know what I hear--a very slight buzz as it kicks on, then a blast of cooler air. Then just as the air starts getting reasonably cold, it cuts off and blows lukewarm. It's the same old cycling bullshit so many others have, and yes I had the freon checked and had that one module replaced.

If anything, I wouldn't mind buying an overdrive pulley for the AC compressor.

 

bah, posted this in the pully pulley pulley page, had a lot of troubles making my pulley go on straight, it wobbled when i started it.. also im sure i stripped the bottom bolt... sigh..

 

how did you guys get the main bolt holding the pulley on off'? it's a pain and I can't seem to remove it.

 

I didn't have a problem with mine. It was on pretty tight, but wasn't too hard to get off.

 

i decided im going to get it, should have it on within the next week. I'm not expecting all too much from it, but for the money it should be a pretty decent upgrade I suppose =_= I'll let you guys know what i think.